Long-press a paragraph to send danmaku
The blood stopped spelling halfway down the block.
I stood outside Ryan's apartment building with my neck throbbing and Kade two steps behind me like some kind of shadow I couldn't shake. The bite mark had bled through the scarf I'd wrapped around it. Kade hadn't said a word since we left his place. He just followed.
"You don't have to come up," I said.
"Yeah. I do."
I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell him Ryan was safe, that this was my life, my ex, my problem. But the mark burned hotter the longer I stood there, and I could feel Kade's eyes on the back of my neck.
I hit the buzzer.
"Lena?" Ryan's voice crackled through the speaker, surprised. Warm. "That you?"
"Yeah. Can I come up?"
"Of course. Yeah. Give me one sec."
The door buzzed open. I pulled it and stepped into the lobby. The heating was busted like always. The same brown carpet. The same flickering light on the second-floor landing. It smelled like coffee and old paint and something I used to call home.
Kade's hand brushed my elbow.
I flinched. "Don't."
"You're shaking."
"I'm fine."
"Lena."
I turned on him. "What do you want me to say? That I'm scared? That this is weird? I'm going to see my ex because apparently my neck has opinions now and I don't know what the hell is happening. So yeah. I'm shaking. You happy?"
He stared at me. His jaw was tight. His eyes were too dark, and I couldn't tell if it was the bad lighting or something else.
"No," he said quietly. "I'm not happy."
I started up the stairs.
Ryan was waiting in the doorway when we reached the third floor. He looked the same. Loose joggers, faded band tee, hair still damp from a shower. He smiled when he saw me, and for half a second, everything felt normal.
Then he saw Kade.
The smile dimmed. "Who's this?"
"Kade," I said. "He's... helping me with something."
"Helping." Ryan's eyes flicked between us. He stepped aside. "Alright. Come in."
The apartment was exactly the same. Same couch. Same movie posters. Same mug on the coffee table that he never washed. I used to nag him about that mug. Now it just sat there like proof I'd been erased.
Ryan shut the door and leaned against it, arms crossed. "So. What's going on?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Where was I even supposed to start?
Kade spoke first. "She's in trouble."
Ryan's eyes snapped to him. "What kind of trouble?"
"The kind you can't fix," Kade said.
"Try me."
"Ryan." I stepped between them. "I just need to ask you something."
His face softened. He reached for my hand, and I let him take it because it felt easier than pulling away. His fingers were warm. Familiar. Safe.
"Anything," he said.
Behind me, I felt Kade go still.
"Have you noticed anything weird lately?" I asked. "Like... people following you? Or strange messages? Anything that made you feel like someone was watching?"
Ryan frowned. "No. Why? Are you being followed?"
I hesitated. The mark pulsed, hot and insistent. I could feel Kade's stare drilling into my back.
"Maybe," I said. "I don't know. I just—something's been happening, and I needed to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine." Ryan squeezed my hand. "But you don't look fine. When's the last time you slept?"
"I don't remember."
"Lena." He tugged me closer. "Talk to me. Please. You show up out of nowhere with some guy I've never seen, asking if I'm being stalked—what's going on?"
I didn't have an answer. Or I had too many.
Kade's voice cut in, low and tight. "She needs to leave."
Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"Now."
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
Kade moved. Not toward Ryan—toward the window. He pulled the curtain back an inch, looked down at the street, and swore under his breath.
"What?" I asked.
"They're here."
"Who's here?" Ryan demanded.
Kade let the curtain fall. He turned, and I saw it then. Blood. A thin line of it trailing from under his jacket sleeve, dripping onto Ryan's floor.
"Kade—"
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"I said I'm fine." He looked at Ryan. "You have a back exit?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Use it. Take her."
I stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"You came here because you thought he was safe." Kade's voice was flat. Empty. "He is. You're not. So go with him."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Buy you time."
My chest tightened. The bond flared, sharp and vicious, like it was trying to claw its way out of my skin. I could feel his pain now. The bleeding wasn't just his sleeve. It was his side. His ribs. Something had hit him before we even got here, and he hadn't said a word.
"You're hurt," I said.
"I heal."
"Kade—"
"Go."
Ryan grabbed my arm. "Lena, if he's saying we need to leave, maybe we should listen."
I jerked away from him. "No."
"Lena—"
"I said no." I turned back to Kade. "If someone's coming, we all leave. Together."
"That's not how this works."
"Then make it work."
His eyes locked on mine. For a second, I thought he'd argue. Thought he'd do that thing where he went cold and distant and shut me out.
Instead, he smiled. It was bitter and small and didn't reach his eyes.
"You don't get it yet," he said. "Do you?"
"Get what?"
"That life you want back?" He glanced at Ryan, then back at me. "It's already gone."
The words hit like a slap.
Before I could answer, Ryan stepped forward. "Alright. I don't know what kind of drama you two have going on, but you're bleeding on my floor and talking like someone's about to kick the door in. So either tell me what's happening or get out."
Kade didn't move. Didn't blink.
Ryan's eyes dropped. To Kade's jacket. To the collar where it had shifted.
To the silver wolf crest burned into the leather.
Ryan went white.
"Where did you get that?" His voice cracked.
Kade's expression didn't change. "Doesn't matter."
"The hell it doesn't." Ryan's hands were shaking now. "That symbol. My dad—he was looking for that. Before he disappeared."
The room went silent.
I looked at Kade. At Ryan. At the crest I hadn't even noticed until now.
"Your dad," I said slowly. "What do you mean, disappeared?"
Ryan's eyes were still locked on Kade. "Three years ago. He was tracking something. Some kind of... group. He had pictures. Notes. And that symbol was in all of it."
Kade's jaw tightened. "You need to forget what you saw."
"Forget?" Ryan's voice rose. "My dad's been gone for three years. No body. No leads. Nothing. And you walk in here wearing the one thing he died trying to find, and you tell me to forget?"
"Yeah," Kade said. "I do."
Ryan lunged.
I barely caught him. "Ryan, stop—"
"He knows something!" Ryan shouted. "About my dad. About what happened. He knows, and he's not telling us."
Kade didn't move. Didn't defend himself. He just stood there, bleeding, staring at Ryan like he'd already made peace with whatever came next.
The bond pulsed again. Harder this time. It dragged at something deep in my chest, pulling me toward Kade even as I held Ryan back.
"Kade," I said quietly. "Tell me you didn't know."
He met my eyes.
And he didn't answer.
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell outside. Heavy. Multiple.
Kade's head snapped toward the door.
"Out of time," he said.
Ryan's face twisted. "I'm not letting you leave."
"You don't have a choice."
The footsteps stopped.
Right outside the door.
Someone knocked. Three slow, deliberate raps.
Kade's hand moved to his side. I saw the glint of something silver tucked into his belt.
"Lena," he said softly. "When I move, you run."
"I'm not—"
"You run."
The door exploded inward.
And everything went to hell.